50p a day til Christmas - healthily?! Weezl's next challenge...

hmkn

weezl74 wrote: »

Hello All,

This morning's trip to ahem, befriend ISOM's butcher went well.

I enquired about both a head, and some trotters, and he was genuinely very helpful. The head will be free:money:and the trotters will be 10p each!
Back soon, love Weezl x

p.s we do enormous, healthy, painless, but loo-blocking poos sian the green!

Well Done!!:j Not too awkward then

What are you going to do with them?

HMK

Edited to say: Duh! I've just reread the post about AM being up for trying the Chinese Trotter recipe. Hope you like it!

BigMummaF

Not too sure if I've said it before---if I have many apologies for repeating myself & blame the peppermint:p --but I have to disassociate the meat on the plate from the animal in the field or I couldn't eat it:o I remember seeing the Disney film of 'Bambi' SIZE=1]actually on a wet afternoon of our honeymoon, but that's another story![/SIZE& some awful kid sat a couple of rows in front of us, taking great pleasure when the hunters*grabs a tissue* did the biz on poor Bambi's mum---I cooda throttled the little pip-squeak Guess I'm a closet veggie, but then I'd be concerned about causing the plants pain when I cut them off at the stem:D

Anyone recommend a good peppermint cordial recipe? We keep some commercial in for medicinal purposes...very good for trapped wind &/or ikkey tum, but there's no hurry cuz I'm having trouble tracking down spearmint & peppermint plants in particular. I'd also like to get some pineapple mint too; a mate had some a few years back & it's deelish on fresh fruit salad:drool:

weezl74

Hello all!

Cocalls, I know, what a wimp eh? I think it's the slime with the snails, I'm a real texture eater, and slime is just not in my repetoire! I know they're not like that when cooked tho!

Penny Penguin, Yep, wine has absolutely not been doable on this budget!

What we have done about once a month is find a 3 bottles of wine for a tenner deals, and then have that from our fun budget. Which is £50 a month for both of us and includes all non-essential spends.

shaz, sorry the gnocchi quantities were a bit sparse! D'you think a whole pack of mash and 800g flour would be a better portion size? The tuna pasta thing looks brilliant!:T:T:T

Mama67, thanks for the aioli tip, looks doable for my budget, haggis..... hmmmmmn, never tried it, but mebbee I will! I'll google a few recipes now!

Penny penguin and ISOM, maybe Hugh will share you?

eselt

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

I wish we had something like this

We don't have a lets sceme but have been offered support to start one by a local voluntary agency

As part of my uni course i start soon i have to do some vollie work and m tempted to start one then and kill 2 birds with one stone
i have been tempted to offer the little farm shop a cake/chutney swap for produce(eggs etc) but not had the nerve yet


probably a daft question how do you do your pickled eggs i love 'em?
Shaz

Hi Shaz

Sounds like a brilliant idea, I hope you get some help setting this up- I know what you mean about plucking up the courage, I just started doing some shopping at the local farm shop, got chatting over the weeks like you do...then its not so daunting to ask...but hey, someone has to supply these shops if not you then who?

Homemade pickled eggs are really easy, this is what I do, but you can always adapt the recipe (ask your local chip shop for some empty jars-mine charged me 20p each):

12-15 hard boiled eggs
Red chilli pepper (chopped up)
15 black peppercorns
10 Cloves
3 Cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons of allspice
Jar of pickling vinegar (Sarsons do a malt or white version £1.29 for 1.14 Ltr in ASDA)

1. Bung hard boiled eggs in jar
2. Boil up all the other ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes
3. Let vinegar/spice mixture cool, then strain (although I often don't strain and leave spices in- looks quite nice in the jar and gives a stronger flavour over time)
4. Bung mixture over eggs- add a few more peppercorns, maybe a chilli if you want more spicy flavour over time, but you might just want a nice 'clear' jar.
5.Pop lid on tightly and a label to remind you of the date- leave for 2 weeks minimum, about one month for the vinegar to really soak in.

I always use white vinegar, as I don't like the way malt 'taints' the eggs over time- but thats just me- any vinegar will do.

I've just bought the new 'Preserves' book from the river cottage website-its brilliant for chutneys and relish stuff- highly recommended!!! (if a bit pricey?)

In_Search_Of_Me

Hi all well just made an "interestin lunch!" attempted to make burgers but hey collapsed so just did a stir fry instead! Mince, couple bits bacon, onion, squidge of tomato paste, fry light,mustard & 1 egg. Ate it with cottage cheese & baby toms & actually was surprised how nice it was but certainly an odd combination lol!
Free sw ice cream is churning - big tub plain yog, 2 mangoes blended and a tsp honey. Tastes delicious & will be good for a "free" sweet craving when I get one!
Big mumma there was a cordial minty recipe posted along the same lines of y ginger one - think they are both in the index and reported to be yummy. Ginger also good for unsettled tummy btw! If you make the minty one before me let me know what its like - was going to make it but forgot the mint (again!)...so many senior moments, so little time!
eselt can you let us know what the RC book is like...love hugh bt put off by prices! Someone gave me the big one as they had two how lucky is that! Also love the skills swap but in these here parts theyre more likely to run of with your tyres & rob your house unforunately!
Weezl you know I love to share but some things you just gotta have for you...sorry PP but he'll just have to choose between us although I suspect you have the edge due to knowlege of animal husbandry! (pun intended lol!)...guess I wll just have to gaze adoringly!

eselt

eselt, do you mind if I forward them your post about your village swapshop? It's exactly what I want to happen! I didn't join lets or anything like that, because it all seemed a bit like hard work with treasurers and committees. My way, it's just up to the individuals and I just give them a nudge in the right direction!

HMK[/quote]

Hi No not at all- forward away!!! TOTALLY agree with things where commitees etc are concerned- what is it about giving people a badge and a bit of 'importance' that makes them turn into power mad monsters- just spoils the whole philosphy. Another thing to watch is the inevitable 'greedy' people- I used to do a lot of freecycle, until I saw all my kids garden toys being flogged off at a car boot my the 'granny' who had picked the stuff up for her grandchildren-ggrrrrr! At least with this scheme, its not a 'something for nothing' thing, so people have to make a mutual commitment to each other- and if your village is anything like mine, word soon gets round if people start to take the mickey!!! Go for it!!!

gin

Weezl74 & ISOM - I was in the Cardiff Bay Asdas today and was crowded out of the Whoopsie section. I fondly imagined it was you two and carried on with my shop so you could have the bargains and stick to you 50p a day budget.:p

ceridwen

BigMummaF wrote: »

Not too sure if I've said it before---if I have many apologies for repeating myself & blame the peppermint:p --but I have to disassociate the meat on the plate from the animal in the field or I couldn't eat it:o I remember seeing the Disney film of 'Bambi' SIZE=1]actually on a wet afternoon of our honeymoon, but that's another story![/SIZE& some awful kid sat a couple of rows in front of us, taking great pleasure when the hunters*grabs a tissue* did the biz on poor Bambi's mum---I cooda throttled the little pip-squeak Guess I'm a closet veggie, but then I'd be concerned about causing the plants pain when I cut them off at the stem:D

Anyone recommend a good peppermint cordial recipe? We keep some commercial in for medicinal purposes...very good for trapped wind &/or ikkey tum, but there's no hurry cuz I'm having trouble tracking down spearmint & peppermint plants in particular. I'd also like to get some pineapple mint too; a mate had some a few years back & it's deelish on fresh fruit salad:drool:

and...now you've just given this "veggie" here a guilty conscience BigMumma:cool: - as I HAD been remembering to mentally "ask" plants I wanted to pick a bit of to "shut off" the bit I wanted to have before taking it........;) (well - its a theory I read somewheres - and was experimenting with):D

eselt

eselt can you let us know what the RC book is like...love hugh bt put off by prices! Someone gave me the big one as they had two how lucky is that! Also love the skills swap but in these here parts theyre more likely to run of with your tyres & rob your house unforunately!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Now I remember why I don't venture over the Tamar bridge:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

RC book is lovely (photos are brilliant) but to tell you the truth most of the recipes are online so its a big 'treat' if you are feeling self indulgent, but not really essential!!! I love Hugh too but can't help being a bit disappointed by the way his site is going-is it me or is the shop a bit of a rip off and getting a bit commercial? Perhaps thats a bit unfair, he is great afterall and he has to make a living like the rest of us.

Anyway, off down the beach to see if OH and kids have caught a fish yet, little five yr old can't use the beachcasters so she's in charge of getting a bucket of mussells- hoping for a sea bass but its nearly always mackeral-taking a disposable BBQ and some nice seasoned flour and olive oil ready to cook it straight away (and a pk of burgers (thankyou Morrisons 50p) and some rolls in case they've had no luck!)- am determined to find some samphire- just hope I don't get the wrong plant and poison us all.

redsquirrel80

Afternoon all, just been for a lovely walk (no foraging though, the only big patch of dandelions I found was being peed on by dogs at the time, which kinda put me off!), nice and sunny, watched a jazz band playing outside and some tiny ducklings on the pond... then to Tesco, spent £5.56 on...

Tin tomatoes - 21p
2 litres milk - £1 (Wiseman's 'One' on special offer)
Chick peas - 23p (cheaper in Caribbean section than Tesco's own)
Organic pork sausages - £1 (reduced)
3 courgettes - 75p
Free range eggs - £1.49 (I need the friend of a friend who's got chickens to come back from holiday, get them from her for 60p)
40 cooked cocktails sausages - 50p (reduced, and I absolutely love these, so couldn't resist)
Toilet roll - 38p

Just had interesting combination for lunch (glad I'm not the only one ISOM! ) of cocktail sausages (about 10 - 12.5p), pickled cabbage (5p-ish), about a third of a raw courgette sliced thinly (8p), topped with spinach pesto (can't remember how much I worked this out at per portion ) and a few olives...err I'm guessing at about 35-40p for the lot. Very nice though I think I may have overdone the garlic in the pesto cos that's all I can taste now

Breakfast was a pitta bread (6p) and tea is going to be curry and rice I think (25p).